Drainage Water Management at S&G Farms
Source: Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership
In July 2024, S&G Farms, including David Spengler and Kent Bohnhoff, installed an automated water control structure on their farm with support from the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership and Fishers & Farmers Partnership*, and a Good Idea Mini-Grant. Drainage Water Management, or DWM, allows producers to control the water table under their fields by controlling the depth at which their drainage systems release water. The practice offers an agronomic advantage to farmers including a 5 -15% yield increase over conventional drainage, while reducing the nitrate loss from the field. “While we can’t control the weather, we can try to control how it impacts the crop and the land,” Kent Bohnhoff notes. In IL, about 16 million acres are likely to be tile-drained. A majority of these acres are good candidates for an edge of field practice, with DWM being one of many including saturated buffers, constructed wetlands, bioreactors, and more.
Kent Bohnoff was a recipient of a Good Idea Mini-Grant, a program to encourage the adoption of edge-of-field practices and farmer-to-farmer learning about them. Good Idea Mini-Grants were made possible with funding from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and Walton Family Foundation.
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Length: 02:49
Year Produced: 2025
State: Illinois
Cropping Systems: Corn, Soybean
Tags: drainage, edge-of-field practices, Good Idea Mini-Grant, Nutrient Loss, water quality
